“Yes, was it not?” cried Jessie, growing excited at the memory, and adding: “For not only was the house burned to the ground, but Joslyn, uncle’s servant, was killed; while as for himself, he fought his way bravely from the burning building, saving his life at the expense of all that made it worth living—his eyesight destroyed, his arms burned off to the elbows.”
“Oh, how horrible! how horrible!” groaned Leola, and her lovely face went deathly white with the shock of the story.
“I knew you would be shocked,” exclaimed Jessie. “Oh, wasn’t it fortunate for us that we had gotten out of the house just before! And saved our trunks, too! The cook was out in the garden getting peas for dinner, luckily for her! Joslyn was burned in the house; and as for Uncle Hermann, we thought he must die, too. Indeed, he thought so himself, for he was in horrible agony, so he sent for a priest—he was a Catholic, you know—and confessed his sins.”
“And he lived, after all? What became of him? Who took care of the poor man?” cried Leola, with tears in her eyes, forgetting her own wrongs in exquisite sympathy.
“Why, the Bennetts took him to their house and cared for him till he recovered; and he lives there yet, having a man attend to him all the time. I must say Mrs. Bennett acted beautifully to Uncle Hermann, and has befriended him all this time in spite of the fact that he hadn’t been as good as he might to her when she was a lone old maid.”
“It was just like dear Miss Tuttle to return good for evil! She had a noble heart!” cried Leola. “Dear soul, she was too good for Giles Bennett!”
“Mamma says she has made a better man of him, and he has become really fond of the kind soul. You see, mamma made a trip there this spring as Mrs. Bennett’s guest, while I came over to Europe with a friend,” added Jessie, who would have bitten her tongue off before she would have owned to Leola that, having exhausted all their means and failed to catch a rich husband, she had been forced to become the paid companion of a rich woman, while her mother eked out an existence “visiting around.”
She would fool Leola, and keep her and Chester Olyphant apart as long as she could; but she had an unerring conviction that Fate in the long run would bring them together.
After a moment’s hesitation she began again:
“I told you that Uncle Hermann confessed his sins the day he thought he was going to die, but you do not seem curious over it, so I’ll tell you all about it anyway. Uncle Hermann was so furious over Chester Olyphant’s trifling with you and me that on the day when you lay unconscious upstairs he met Chester in the hall and struck him on the head with a blunt iron instrument, so that he fell like one dead.”